Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category Comcast CEO Unimpressed By 'Quadruple Play'
Despite spending millions on a plan to offer it
(old news - 10:52AM Wednesday Jan 10 2007)
tags: business · cable
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts isn't exactly thrilled with the idea of the "quadruple play," or bundling wireless phone service with VoIP, broadband and video services. That's probably not a good sign, after Comcast joined forces with Sprint, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications to spend $2.4 billion on wireless spectrum -- enough to technically become the nation's fifth largest wireless phone provider -- in a plan to offer co-branded service. As we've noted, Comcast is engaged in wireless phone trials in Portland and Boston, and Roberts is curious to see how they're received -- but he says he doesn't expect much innovation on that front in 2007.

Related:
  1. Tuesday Morning Links
  2. Tuesday Evening Links
  3. Virgin Media To Offer 50Mbps
  4. Is Comcast Cooking Up a 22Mbps/5Mbps Tier?
  5. Wednesday Evening Links
  6. Thursday Morning Links
  7. Thursday Evening Links
  8. Comcast Offers Free Cable To Analog Homes
Forums » Comcast CEO Unimpressed By 'Quadruple Play'
view: topics flat text 
Post a:
moonpuppy

join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL

For once, he is right.......

Cell phone service has a high churn rate. People can switch on a whim and not have to worry about monopolies or duopolies. Not so with cable TV services.

Also, Comcast is not going to run a help desk just for the phone. Sprint will handle this and if you piss off a customer over his cell phone service, will he blame Comcast since they sold him the service? And, if a customer cancels the cell phone due to poor service, will that affect the pricing of the 3 other services involved?

Another thing to consider is the normal 2 year contracts for cell phones. Cable, DSL and DSS services are normally 1 year.

This could get interesting.
krayzie bone

join:2006-09-03
Marietta, GA

Re: For once, he is right.......

why anyone would sign up for quadruple play anyway is beyond me...It doesn't save you that much money (if any) and you get the same, crappy service from one provider. Yippee!

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: For once, he is right.......

plus a contract for all of them. boo.

Evil_Icon
Digital Pimp

join:2003-02-24
West Monroe, LA
I wish they would spend 2.4 billion on docis upgrade or something in the speed catagory.
--
More upload please!

Trinijoy
Premium
join:2005-09-12
Brick, NJ

YEAH!

I LOVE BLUNT CEO's.

You go boy!

RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL

Re: YEAH!

Indeed. Brian usually sounds like he's been smokin' a blunt...

i5050MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

Re: YEAH!

At least Brian's not trying to shove HDTV and Inet down a mile of twisted pair.

RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest

Re: YEAH!

I wondered how you were doing over there. Nice to see you again.

Somehow you don't seem to get that shoving HDTV and Inet down a mile of twisted pair is as easy as shoving it down a mile of RG6, but hey, you don't really care about facts anyway.

Enjoy the mild winter.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.
Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: YEAH!

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

Somehow you don't seem to get that shoving HDTV and Inet down a mile of twisted pair is as easy as shoving it down a mile of RG6, but hey, you don't really care about facts anyway.
So.. what ARE the facts?

First off.. they aren't shoving HDTV *AND* Internet down twisted pair.. they're shoving internet down twisted pairs and THEN shoving HDTV down that same stream.

Cable is 'shoving' multiple channels of HDTV on a pipe AND shoving Internet as well.

Shall we get into how many HDTVs on that twisted pair can actually view that stream on that twisted pair?

I have 6 HDTVs in my home... how many can I have with twisted pair.. and how many can I have with that last mile of RG6?

..but you really don't care about facts anyway.
--
"Wipe out the national deficit over night... Tax the stupid!" - about 50 gMail invites available. PM if you'd like one.

i5050MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

I wondered how you were doing over there. Nice to see you again.
I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking. And you?

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

Somehow you don't seem to get that shoving HDTV and Inet down a mile of twisted pair is as easy as shoving it down a mile of RG6, but hey, you don't really care about facts anyway.
Like they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Comcast keeps increasing my Inet speed and channel lineup every year...even out here in rural backwater Coloma. Comcast advertises 8Mb yet lately I've been seeing 10-12 Mb. Damn coax!

OTOH, all I can get from AT&T's twisted phone system is ~40kb...and that's being generous. What ever happened to Eddie's magic DSL line extenders?

Since you say twisted pair and coax are equal, I can only conclude Team Comcast is a bit smarter than Team AT&T.
--
Meet Bill and Karolyn at www.theslowskys.com
ke4pym

join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·RoadRunner Cable
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·Vonage

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

down a mile of RG6, but hey, you don't really care about facts anyway.
Got news for you. But they're not shoving anything down a mile of RG6. Unless it is a mom-n-pop shop, they're using higher grade cable and RG6 from the curb to your home.

RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest

Re: YEAH!

Come take a look at what Comcast is using in this system then...it's RG-6 with a messenger embedded. There's about 120 feet of it coiled up in the alley behind my office where it snapped in half two years ago. I had to get it out of the alley since Comcast couldn't be bothered to send someone out to clean it up. Even a tech who came by to disconnect a tap at the same pole didn't do anything about it despite me pointing it out to them. "We don't consider that a priority" were his exact words.

Was probably pissed that the last of eight customers on that tap had just gone to satellite...
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.
Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

moby866
I am slowly starting to hate you.
Premium
join:2000-10-07
Kansas City, MO

I am unimpressed with Comcast

That is all.

dadkins
Land of Confusion
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Well...

... so much for me getting a cell then.
Not that I actually have a use for a cell, but it would have been just tacked onto the Comcast bill.

Ah well.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

BloodRoses
The Purple Faerie
Premium
join:2003-03-17
New York, NY

Re: Well...

You don't have a mobile? You do know this is 2007, right? ~_^

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
·QuantumVoice
·ViaTalk
·Vonage

Re: Well...

said by BloodRoses See Profile :

You don't have a mobile? You do know this is 2007, right? ~_^
I dont own one either your point?

dadkins
Land of Confusion
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Don't go nowhere... and I already have a camera, I surf the web on laptops, don't have anyone to call anyways.

The cell from Comcast was mere;y so I could have yet another toy. Not because I need one.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

BloodRoses
The Purple Faerie
Premium
join:2003-03-17
New York, NY

Re: Well...

"the web"?... sounds very lonely...

ninjatutle

join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA

Unimpressed by your employees...

Maybe if you offered more salary and benefits you would hire more desirable folks.
JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL

Re: Unimpressed by your employees...

free cable- discounted ppv and hd/dvrs boxes
free high speed
discounted phone service
401k match up to 6%-Fidelity
average health care cost for employees
ESPP at 15% discount
tons of vendor discounts for working for Comcast-Verizon,Sprint,Cingular,Apple,HP,Dell
64 hours of flex time during the year if not used they pay you for it
vacation days on par with other big companies
stock options depending on time with company
--
www.seabee.org
FanaticGamer

join:2006-10-16
Jacksonville, FL
·Comcast

Re: Unimpressed by your employees...

*High Five to fellow employee JSRoman*

I actually love my job thank ya very much, and love the benefits of it....

On point: Actually I wouldn't be surprised if we did have some Inhouse Tech Support Training for the Sprint Cell Phones, I would be cool with learning it for sure. I can't speak for the test markets, but if it launches nationally, I suspect a Job Posting For CAEs in Wireless. Time will tell....
-FG

Sabre
Di relung hatiku bernyanyi bidadari

join:2005-05-17
·Comcast

Re: Unimpressed by your employees...

I'll third that. I don't work for Comcast anymore, but I left because I couldn't get the promotion I wanted in-house, not because of the benefits. Comcast's benefits, as outlined by JSRoman, are indeed excellent. For all their faults (and most every huge company does indeed have many faults), they're a good company to work for. Though I'm not sure how well cellphone service will fit them anyway.
Now if they were to look into Wimax integration, that might be interesting.
--
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

ninjatutle

join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
I said desirable folks. Not just anybody
yahtzee
Premium
join:2000-12-03
Richmond, VA

and your point?

Nick Saban also said he wasn't leaving the Dolphins.
--
If ever offered a breath mint - take it.
mrks

join:2005-07-12
Lowell, MA

life @ Comcast

just left Comcast to work at Verizon, it's a much better gig

Packeteers
Premium
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
·Verizon Online DSL

quad play for $100 would be worth it

depends on pricing. $100/month for phone, long distance, cableTV and broadband may not be worth it to many who only need 2 of those service, but if you throw in a celphone using the same long distance, and a reasonable minimum airtime minutes, for the same $100, then you have something even I would go for.
three6ohchri

join:2004-04-14
Portland, OR


edit:
January 11th, @05:01AM

Re: quad play for $100 would be worth it

sheesh, you want a gold plated dvr while you're at it?? Free I'm sure too, huh? come on now... be realistic here... can you get all four services with any providers for that price? even mix and matching you wont find all 4 products for anywhere near $100. Also, Comcast doesn't require a contract for video, HSI, or CDV... Mobile access is the only thing with a contract.
--
three6ohchris
u3912974

join:2007-07-31
San Francisco, CA

damn i'm ready

comcast bill $130 (trip play)
att wireless bill $125 (cingular 8525 with $40 talk, $40 ultd wireless and $10 TV)

I want comcast to offer a better phone deal for wireless
Forums » Comcast CEO Unimpressed By 'Quadruple Play'


Friday, 10-Oct 18:42:25 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 9 years online! © 1999-2008 dslreports.com.